Cotton filling for comforts and the like.



E. W. THMPSON.

COTTON FILLING FUR GOMFORTS AND THB LIKE. APPLICATION FILED MAY 6, 1908.

1,009,806. Patented 11011.28, 1911.

WTNESSES:

ENTOI? MII l TTURNEY j' (DLlJMHl-A PLANOGRAPH COWASHINGTONLD. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERIVIN W. THOMPSON, 0F CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR TO THE SOUTH- ERN COTTON OIL COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

COTTON FILLING FOR COMFORTS AND THE LIKE.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERWIN W. THOMPSON, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Charlotte, county of Mecklenburg, State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cotton Filling for Comforts and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a new article of manufacture principally adapt-ed for household use as a filling in making quilts, bed-clothes, etc., although it may be useful in many other capacities; and it consists in the peculiarly constructed sheet of raw cotton adapted when the sheet is finished to be sold in rolls, all of which will be more fully described hereinafter and pointed out in the claim.

The object of the invention may be further stated as being to strengthen a sheet of cotton produced by a garnett, gin, or other machine, which puts loose cotton into a sheet, so that said sheet being thus strengthened may be handled without tearing to pieces.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a top view of my device, `Eig. 2, a longitudinal section thereof, Fig. 3, a transverse section through a length of my product, and Fig. 4, an end view of a bale of my product.

In the manufacture of my article, I take the raw fibrous cotton just as it comes from a gin or other' machine, which removes it from the seed, and spread it out in the form of a long sheet a having a popular length and width for domestic purposes, so that when rolled up in the shape of a small bale about a foot in diameter and a foot and a half in length, it can be placed for sale upon store shelves and sold to customers over the counter with facility. A sheet of loose raw material when rolled up in bale form would adhere and tear apart when unrolled, if no artificial binder were employed to hold the fibers together. It would also be difficult to handle the sheet of loose cotton without pull- Specication of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 6, 1908.

Patented Nov.. 28, 1911.

Serial No. 431,241.

ing it apart or destroying its shape. Therefore I have provided an artificial binder which is applied throughout the lengt-h of the sheet of raw material at equidistant points; and it consists of lines of stitching Z) spaced apart and made with coarse thread having large loose stitches c which are embedded into the cotton fiber in such a manner that they are partly invisible and do not form deep grooves in the surfaces of the sheet, but thread their way continuously through the material, drawing the fibers of the cotton closer together between the stitching and thereby making the natural intertwined fibers of the cotton adhere more tenaciously to one another at the point where the stitching occurs. By these means the objections previously mentioned are over come, and an article produced which can, with ordinary care, be rolled, unrolled, and handled without danger of drawing out tufts or pulling the sheet apart. This form allows the sheet to be cut conveniently with scissors to any desired size and to permit an outside cover of artificial fabric to be applied as when used for quilts, bed-clothes, or any other purposes in which such an article is desirable. It will be apparent that the stitching is applied directly to the unspun cotton in contradistinction to those sheets of made-up cotton goods having the cotton indirectly stitched together on the outside with paper, gauze, muslin, tape, etc., interposed between the stitching and the cotton. The sheet of raw or unspun cotton is therefore placed in a sewing machine, such as is ordinarily used for making quilts, and is sewed with loose thread so as not to cut or displace the cotton fiber. In this way the sheet of loose cotton which is produced by the garnett, gin, or other machine, is so strengthened that it can be handled without tearing to pieces.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

As a new article of manufacture, a rolled sheet of cotton having its intertwined fibers held together through natural cohesion, in Signed at Charlotte, this 18 day of April combination with lines of artificial binding 1908.

applied directly t0 and passing through the fibers of the sheet of unspun material7 said ERWIN W' THOMPSON' stitching being for the purpose of prevent- Witnesses:

ing the rolled sheet of cotton from adhering BROOKE B. TODD,

and tearing apart when unrolled. L'. S. MGDONALD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

